SMITH: The church walls again are bare

December 24, 2012, 5:20PM

12/24/2012

The 11th verse of the Bible's Luke, Chapter 3, says that if you own two coats, you might rightly give one to someone who has none.

Minister David Parks-Ramage shared the passage with members of Santa Rosa's First Congregational United Church of Christ, then marveled at what followed.

Two visitors to the historic church set down, right then, the coats they'd worn to the service. Within days, members of the congregation carried in about 60 more coats.

They pinned a bow to each and hung them on the sanctuary wall — an unusual and practical Christmas display.

Along with the coats, church members donated hundreds of pairs of socks and toys. All are bound for local people who this Christmas find themselves on the short end of the disparity Luke 3:11 sought to balance.

SAME WITH HATS: Ladies of the Luther Burbank Home & Gardens stay plenty busy keeping up and showing off the Santa Rosa landmark. They just recently pulled off another splendid Holiday Open House.

As productive as they are, 11 came to agree that sometimes their volunteer duties leave their hands free. So they undertook to have some fun together and knit or crochet colorful hats for local people struggling with illnesses sometimes associated with thinning or absent hair.

The multi-tasking Burbank Home volunteers recently delivered to the American Cancer Society chapter 119 of the coziest hats.

JESUS IS IN THE STORY and so are Adam, Eve, Moses, Adonis, Apollo, Krishna, Buddha and others.

It will be told at 7 p.m. Saturday in a one-man performance of "The Incarnation of the Logos" sponsored by the local branch of the Anthroposophical Society in America.

The people putting it on at Summerfield Waldorf School on Willowside Road call it "the story of Jesus' birth, childhood and youth as you've never heard it before."

A $12 admission is suggested but no one will be turned away.

MEOWSER THE CAT went missing from home in Rohnert Park for two months, and his family was crushed.

Meowser scratched at a nice lady's door and she fed him and took him to the Rohnert Park Animal Shelter, where workers found he'd been implanted with a microchip. They read it and phoned his family and soon there was a tearful reunion.

Determined to see many more pet owners microchip their dogs and cats, the Rohnert Park shelter is offering to implant a chip for free through the end of December.

LUCKY PEAS:When Marta Koehne opened her Hot Couture vintage clothing and costume rental shop in Railroad Square on New Year's Day 1983, she served black-eyed peas for good luck.

Evidently they worked.

So this next Jan. 1, Marta will mark the shop's 30th anniversary by once again putting out black-eyed peas, a New Years Day tradition for many, from about noon to 5.

The 11th verse of the Bible's Luke, Chapter 3, says that if you own two coats, you might rightly give one to someone who has none.

Minister David Parks-Ramage shared the passage with members of Santa Rosa's First Congregational United Church of Christ, then marveled at what followed.

Two visitors to the historic church set down, right then, the coats they'd worn to the service. Within days, members of the congregation carried in about 60 more coats.

They pinned a bow to each and hung them on the sanctuary wall — an unusual and practical Christmas display.

Along with the coats, church members donated hundreds of pairs of socks and toys. All are bound for local people who this Christmas find themselves on the short end of the disparity Luke 3:11 sought to balance.

SAME WITH HATS: Ladies of the Luther Burbank Home & Gardens stay plenty busy keeping up and showing off the Santa Rosa landmark. They just recently pulled off another splendid Holiday Open House.

As productive as they are, 11 came to agree that sometimes their volunteer duties leave their hands free. So they undertook to have some fun together and knit or crochet colorful hats for local people struggling with illnesses sometimes associated with thinning or absent hair.

The multi-tasking Burbank Home volunteers recently delivered to the American Cancer Society chapter 119 of the coziest hats.

JESUS IS IN THE STORY and so are Adam, Eve, Moses, Adonis, Apollo, Krishna, Buddha and others.

It will be told at 7 p.m. Saturday in a one-man performance of "The Incarnation of the Logos" sponsored by the local branch of the Anthroposophical Society in America.

The people putting it on at Summerfield Waldorf School on Willowside Road call it "the story of Jesus' birth, childhood and youth as you've never heard it before."

A $12 admission is suggested but no one will be turned away.

MEOWSER THE CAT went missing from home in Rohnert Park for two months, and his family was crushed.

Meowser scratched at a nice lady's door and she fed him and took him to the Rohnert Park Animal Shelter, where workers found he'd been implanted with a microchip. They read it and phoned his family and soon there was a tearful reunion.

Determined to see many more pet owners microchip their dogs and cats, the Rohnert Park shelter is offering to implant a chip for free through the end of December.

LUCKY PEAS:When Marta Koehne opened her Hot Couture vintage clothing and costume rental shop in Railroad Square on New Year's Day 1983, she served black-eyed peas for good luck.

Evidently they worked.

So this next Jan. 1, Marta will mark the shop's 30th anniversary by once again putting out black-eyed peas, a New Years Day tradition for many, from about noon to 5.